Kendrick Meek: “I strongly support the Mollohan- Shays amendment to permit the Census Bureau to continue planning for the 2000 census. I…”

“I strongly support the Mollohan- Shays amendment to permit the Census Bureau to continue planning for the 2000 census. I would just like to remind the House that the history of this Nation shows that the census has always failed to count some people, but, of course, we want to be sure that there is no significant undercount this time. But the undercount is always higher for African- Americans than for any other group. Mr. Chairman, I would ask Members to look at the data for the last six censuses, which we will see is being brought to our attention now. If Members will look at this particular chart, they will see that beginning in 1940, in each census the undercount has been more than 3 percent larger than it was for whites. The undercount for blacks or African-Americans has been always more than 3 percent larger than it was for whites. If we look at these data all across, from 1940 up until now, there has been this very serious undercount, but it was greater in 1990 than any other time. It was like 4.4 percent higher among African-Americans at that time in 1990, here, if Members will note, than at any other time. The 1990 census failed to count 1.4 million African-Americans. I do not think anyone in this country wants an undercount. They want the very best. They want everyone counted. It appears that the only way that can be done is to do sampling.…”